Since they began to find profitable applications ten years ago, it has been fascinating to the see the degree to which RFID tags are being used in a variety of convenience-enhancing applications. Don’t stop for toll roads! No need to swipe your card! Just get near enough for us to scan you, and you’re on your way

.Naturally, this has an unintended consequence: human being are generating massive amounts of data about their behavior, from travel patterns to shopping preferences. These data are being collected by central databases, both by governments and private entities. Free democracies have certain implicit and explicit expectations of privacy, but we are at the point of unprecedented technological power in tracking human beings and most everything they do.

Dialogue is in order – we need to decide what we feel about this, what we expect; our values of right and wrong.

Some have already started: France’s Le Figaro newspaper has an article this morning about how the rail company is sounding the alarm that it cannot necessarily guarantee “anonymous” travel when using the regular RFID-chipped NaviGo pass.

This has led to a higher paid, but anonymous version of the card called “Navigo Decouverte.” But also it leads to a polemic. Is our privacy ours, or must we purchase it just as we purchase other goods and services? Are our laws made with enough foresight to handle the challenges these technologies may pose to liberty and open society?

It’s nice to see that France is paying attention. Let’s dialogue!